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The sound of arrows flying, Smajor's voice, and the pain overtaking his body as he died still lingered all throughout him, but when he opened his eyes once more there was no sign of the cruel world he had been forced to live in.
Instead the place was one with a green mist, and with time as his senses slowly returned to him he was able to make out many ears surrounding him. It was eerie, and he had his dog ears perked up as he tried to figure out what he should do, but before he got the chance a figure with gigantic, beautiful wings gracefully lowered onto the ground in front of him.
The figure had something familiar about him, but he was wearing a blindfold and Ren wasn't quite able to place him without the eyes and in completely unfamiliar attire.
It was only once the figure talked that he realized who it was, "Hey Ren-" The voice—one he would recognize out of a thousand—mumbled, stepping closer but not bumping into him, as if he could see even with the blindfold fully covering his face.
"Martyn? Is that you?" He asks, still hesitant, surprisingly skeptical, there's probably still some remainders of the adrenaline from the game in his system.
"Yes, it's me, you're safe now." He has a smile on his face, it's gentle, careless, unlike what he had gotten to see from Martyn during the games, but it fit him, and it somewhat eased Ren's worries about this mysterious place.
He wanted to open his mouth to ask questions, because he had so many. Yet Martyn did not give him that chance, as he spread his wings he took flight, scooping Ren off the ground, arms wrapped around his waist from behind while letting the other's arms and legs dangle down like a puppy.
"No no no dude, not a smart plan, you can't even see!" Ren yelled out nervously over the sound of the wind around them, and when he talked Martyn did sway wildly as if an extra wild sway of wind had hit them. It's then when Ren decides he is probably better off just putting trust in whatever was happening to him.
Eventually Martyn started to lower, and Ren could start to see what looked like a giant nest floating below them. As they reached it Martyn put him down carefully, but stumbled as his own feet touched solid ground once more.
"Where are we? What's happening dude?" He asked once Martyn seemed to have regained his balance.
"We're in a safe place," Martyn reassured him once again, it didn't explain anything, but his voice seemed to come through to a subconscious part of his brain that just wanted to listen, listen and not worry and trust this mysterious version of his old hand.
Martyn guided him to a spot in the nest where old shreds of clothes—he could vaguely make out the old third life attire from back when he was the red king and Martyn was his hand—and other cloths were cocooned into a bed of pure softness.
It looked heavenly comfortable, so when Martyn guided him to lay down he obviously did, and the other instantly seemed to curl beside him.
"The others, they didn't deserve you, you're safe now, where you belong, with me." The words were calm as Martyn mumbled them, and Ren believed them even if he didn't understand why.
"What've they done wrong dude?" He tried asking for clarification, not mad at the accusations towards their friends, just curious if there was something he'd missed.
"They don't listen to you like I do," Martyn's pressing himself against Ren in some sort of extreme cuddle, as if afraid the other would suddenly try to leave this comfortable spot floating in nothing but void, "You love to talk, they barely listen."
Ren… he didn't know what to say, he knew he talked a lot, really did. Yet he'd never directly told anyone, always just blamed himself and tried his best to calm down. So even now he stayed silent.
"Ren, you're safe here, no more games, please… please talk to me, I want to listen, I want to hear your voice." Martyn sounded sad, almost pleading, something Ren didn't expect at all.
"Dude, I'm here, whatever this place may be."
"The Listeners realm." Martyn simply stated like he was supposed to know what that was.
"What?"
"I'mma Listener, we listen to peoples struggles to help them, keep them safe from the Watchers." He explained it really quickly, as if not wanting to waste too much time with talking himself when he could listen to Ren, but he thought he understood the gist of it.
"And then why am I here?" That was the one piece Ren's brain hadn't yet been able to figure out, even if Martyn liked him he wasn't a Listener.
"Because they don' t treat you right out there. They don't deserve you, I want to listen to you, always, no murder and betrayal, just listening and stories, in peace."
"But I'm not a Listener-" Ren stated, as if to remind Martyn that he didn't have giant wings, or wore a blindfold, or any of this other crazy stuff.
"I know, you don't have to. I wanted you here, I convinced them you're safe, that I need you." Martyn really sounded like he'd put effort in to get him here, and that he needs Ren just made him feel warm inside, loved.
"Why would I not be safe?" It's the one thing that bothered him, he'd never interacted with any of this Listener-Watcher stuff before and it was still utterly confusing.
"That the Watchers weren't following you, that you weren't one of them, that they wouldn't notice if we did it right."
"I guess that makes sense?"
"It doesn't have to, you just stay here and never stop talking and I will make sure you are completely safe and your needs are cared for."
And yeah, Ren liked Martyn, he could life with that. Martyn's presence was warm, the nest was very comfortable and he had enough to talk about for ages, piled up from previous years.